Recently, I noticed a very intriguing question: Will the world keep buying US Treasuries? (eg, PS-2025, State Street-2024). Following Trump-2025, I actually doubt that - a lot. For early indications, see this recent WSJ article: “Trump’s Tariffs Were Supposed to Boost the Dollar. Why the Opposite Happened. Worries that long-term U.S. growth will fade could matter...
Intro LO: The most important quote might be in the 5th paragraph below: “He noted that the number of marriages in China last year was less than half of the 13.47 million in 2013.” Note: bold & italic markings by LO. Source: Reuters, 10 February 2025, Marriages in China plunge by a record in 2024, fanning birthrate concerns Hence, China may not have enough...
Intro LO: This Washington Post opinion by its Editorial Board is a must-read if and when China is of any interest to you. Actually, this article is more about facts on China than an opinion. In my view, the following quote by the ancient Chinese military general, philosopher and strategist Sun Tzu (c.544 BC - 496 BC) from his famous book, The Art of War, applies to...
A recent Aeon article (ie, Will we ever know the origins of the Universe?) touched an unresolved thought of mine: must the Universe truly have a beginning?? The Aeon article has a clear answer: No. Not necessarily. “The Malament-Manchak theorem presents us with a sobering limit: our observations, no matter how extensive, may never be sufficient to determine...
Recently, the Psychological Bulletin published a “meta-analytic review of the association between mental effort and negative affect”. That review was entitled as “The unpleasantness of thinking”. I agree that “critical thinking is not just hard work but also mentally draining”. I disagree that it’s “often unpleasant”. Source: The Debrief, covering the recent...
A recent Nature article, Black hole jets on the scale of the cosmic web, makes you wonder if the Universe is “alive” (eg, Phys, Volkskrant). Actually, the question of what is life is a debate within science (eg, ASU, NYT-2024, Templeton). The problem with our current definition of life (eg, eating, digestion, pooping) is that viruses are not included. How can a...
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